GoKawiil
Tech News
A new essay on product design argues that as software commoditizes thanks to AI, functional quality alone no longer separates products. Instead, the piece claims brand, design and overall user experience—what the author calls 'taste'—are what now distinguish successful products, citing commentary from Anu Atluru and Steve Jobs on exposure to great work as a way to develop this instinct.
At a Royal Canin research facility in France, roughly 160 cats and dogs sample pet food formulas while nutritionists track their preferences, behavior and stool quality to refine recipes. The work comes as U.S. cat food spending topped $17 billion over the past year, up 14% from two years prior, according to The New York Times.
Spotify has introduced a feature called Taste Profile that allows users to type everyday phrases requesting more or less of specific artists, genres or moods. The tool is designed to give listeners direct input into how the platform's recommendation algorithm shapes their feed.
An Entrepreneur contributor revisits Coca-Cola's 1985 decision to replace its original formula with New Coke after more than 200,000 blind taste tests showed consumers preferred the sweeter recipe over both original Coke and Pepsi. The company launched New Coke on April 23, 1985, only for the change to fail within weeks despite the extensive research behind it.
Spotify has launched its 'Taste Profile' feature to Premium subscribers aged 18 and up in the United States, after debuting it in beta in New Zealand earlier this year. The tool lets users see how Spotify's AI interprets their listening habits and adjust it using natural-language requests to change what gets recommended in feeds like Discover Weekly, Made for You, and Wrapped.
A design commentary challenges the popular claim that 'taste' will be designers' defense against automation, arguing that simply recognizing quality after the fact offers no real edge. Instead, the piece contends the true creative advantage lies in identifying and committing to ideas before their value is widely recognized, not in judging what's already accepted as good.
Spotify introduced a new settings option letting users exclude kids and family music, such as nursery rhymes or movie soundtracks, from shaping their Discovery Weekly, Daily Mix and Wrapped. The toggle works retroactively, so previously played kids' tracks can be scrubbed from a user's taste profile, and it's available to both free and premium accounts.
Spotify has rolled out a new global mobile setting for Free and Premium users that lets them remove children's and family music from their taste profile. Once toggled off in settings, songs from kids' movies, nursery rhymes and family show themes will no longer factor into personalized features like Wrapped, Discover Weekly, or Daily Mix, even retroactively. Users can still search, play, and playlist that music without it affecting their recommendations.